Many were hopeful that Canon was going to rid all of their DSLRs of moire and aliasing, but they've saved those improvements to all but their most expensive cameras. The full-frame Canon 6D, which was announced back in September, is about a $1,000 cheaper than the Mark III, but unfortunately suffers from aliasing and moire (something that is absent from the Mark III's image). Mosaic Engineering has been developing anti-aliasing filters for Canon and Nikon DSLRs, and they've finally come out with one for the Canon 6D, the VAF-6D. Could the new filter make it the perfect full-frame camera in terms of price/performance in Canon's lineup? Check out the first sample video below.
Here is the VAF-6D filter in action, thanks to DSLR News Shooter for the find:
Dan Chung mentions this one quirk about the filter that actually applies to anything put between the lens and the sensor (even ND filters):
There is also a shift to the back-focus setting of the lens, which means that the distance scale will be rendered inaccurate. Early versions of the filter for the 5D mkII also had very soft and dark corners with wide angle lenses. Mosaic claim to have improved both back-focus shifts and wide angle performance with a new second version for the 5D mkII. The 6D version should share these improvements but I haven’t tested it.
While there is still a tiny bit of moire/aliasing left in the image, it's much, much better than without the filter, and it doesn't look like it's really affecting the resolution. I think the 6D at $1,900 for the body is a great value in terms of Canon's lineup, even if you can get used Mark IIs for dirt cheap. At this point the technology for both stills and video is better in the 6D, and noise performance is also improved. The only issue here is the cost of the filter, which definitely isn't cheap at $365. For some people, however, it will be worth the money they spent the first time they go out and shoot with it.
Though the Mark III is more expensive at $3,150, it still has a few advantages over the 6D, namely a headphone jack, and an uncompressed HDMI firmware update coming in April. You also don't need a filter on the Mark III for moire-free shooting, so it's one less piece of gear to worry about. If you want the full-frame look but can't deal with the moire and aliasing anymore, getting the filter and using it with the 6D would still be a savings of almost $900 over the Mark III, which is certainly nothing to scoff at.
To read more about the VAF-6D, or purchase one if you're already a 6D owner, head on over to Mosaic Engineering website.
Link: Mosaic Engineering
[via DSLR News Shooter]
